CUPERTINO — Apple appointed Deirdre O’Brien, a 29-year company veteran, as the company’s first vice president of People on Friday.

O’Brien’s job will entail all human resources functions, from talent development, recruiting, benefits, compensation and business support. She will also be in charge of Apple University, a training facility for Apple employees in Cupertino.

“As long as I’ve been at Apple, Deirdre has been the glue that bonds our operations, sales, marketing and finance teams to deliver products to our customers,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a company blog post. “Deirdre deeply understands Apple’s unique culture and that people join Apple to do the best work of their lives.”

O’Brien was hired by Apple in 1988 and worked as vice president of supply chain operations. She played a key in role for every Apple hardware product launch over the past 20 years, according to the company blog post.

“I love Apple and, like so many of my colleagues, I’m honored to have made it my life’s work,” said O’Brien. “I’m excited to begin this new chapter, supporting 120,000 incredibly talented people around the world who are motivated to do amazing things every day.”

O’Brien spoke with this news organization last year about Apple on the Cupertino company’s 40th birthday. She said she stuck around Apple during its turbulent days in the 1990s because “she was learning so much.”

“We feel like a small company every day,” O’Brien said about Apple’s company culture during the interview. “We are not worried about protecting things. It’s a very positive rather than a maintenance approach.”

Earlier this week, Apple appointed Isabel Ge Mahe, the vice president of wireless technologies, as head of operations in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Seung covers Apple and personal technology for the Bay Area News Group. He was previously a technology reporter for Newsweek and a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. Seung grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley.

Sunday July 3, 1983, was an exciting day for me. I picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times and there, in the business section, was my very first column about personal computers. I remember calling up a friend and telling him I had good news and bad news. The good news was that I just signed-up to write...